Don’t get caught off guard by market crashes that can take all your money down with them. And don’t miss out on markets where you can build wealth practically overnight. Real Estate News for Investors with Kathy Fettke is the premiere source for savvy real estate investors who want the edge. Stay up-to-date on new laws, regulations, and economic events that affect real estate. Topics include: market trends, economic analysis that affects housing prices, updates on the best rental markets for investing in single-family rentals or multi-unit rentals, turn-key housing standards, the fate of the highly revered 1031 exchange and other tax law affecting investors, self-directed IRA investing and 401k changes, where rents and property values are rising or falling, flipping risks, new Dodd-Frank rules regarding private lending and financing standards, areas with job losses vs job growth, areas that are overbuilt or over-supplied versus areas with low supply and high demand, and how to avoid real estate scams. We'll bring you the latest reports from organizations like the National Association of Realtors, Realty Trac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, Rent Range, Property Radar, the Norris Group, Peter Schiff, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Suse Orman, Bigger Pockets, Dave Ramsey and more. And we'll help you interpret the data in terms that make sense for your real estate goals, and portfolio. Grow and protect your wealth by staying on the forefront of economic data analysis, expert opinions, innovative investing strategies and profitable investment opportunities. We'll share all the top real estate news stories and the best trade secrets investors should know, so you can stay ahead of the curve and make fully informed real estate decisions. Host Kathy Fettke is Co-CEO of the Real Wealth Network, author of Retire Rich with Rentals and host of the Real Wealth Show on iTunes. She brings decades of media and real estate investing experience, offers her own viewpoints on particular topics, and taps into her network of real estate experts for real world news updates created just for investors like you. Get the real news on real estate on The Real Estate News For Investors Show!

Rainfall from Hurricane Harvey is reportedly the heaviest in history, causing massive flooding in the Houston area.

President Donald Trump landed in Corpus Christi to meet with local officials and rescue services, but will not visit the hardest-hit parts of Texas. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "the President wants to be very cautious about making sure that any activity doesn't disrupt the recovery efforts that are still ongoing.” The President did say “You’re going to see very rapid action.”

Need a high-visibility commercial building with an imposing presence and a drive-thru, all at a competitive price? Your local bank may have the answer for you, and it’s not a business loan. As more and more customers do their banking online, physical bank buildings are emptying out their retail spaces and real estate investors are moving in.

It’s looking like a win-win situation for both solar power and landfills. Landowners with properties that are too contaminated for development are turning their “brownfields” into “brightfields”, with solar installations. It doesn’t matter if the property is unfit for human use. The only significant requirement is solar exposure in an open area along with access to the power grid, and maybe a few service roads.

It’s a niche market that’s getting the attention of investors and developers. The National Association of Home Builders says there’s strong demand in the 55+ housing sector, but when it comes to satisfying that demand, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution.

The association says that builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market rose 11 points in the last quarter, to a reading of 66. It’s also the 13th consecutive quarter that this Housing Market Index, or HMI, has been above 50. So, the housing market for active adults has been showing strength for at least three years. And it’s continuing. The reading is based on a median of 50, so anything above that indicates that more builders feel that conditions are good.

Recycled materials are in high demand these days. Instead of demolishing old buildings with a wrecking ball, crews are carefully “deconstructing” them to preserve components that could be used again. You can even find reclaimed materials on display in Home Depot and Lowe’s.

The old method for clearing an obsolete building from a piece of property is to smash it to bits and haul it off to a landfill. Now with developers trying to give their buildings more character, and also trying to meet “LEED” green building standards, used building materials are a hot commodity. Construction Dive writes that deconstruction crews are taking “great pains” to avoid damage to materials like bricks, wood flooring, windows and doors, and other potentially reusable items.

It’s a sign that Wall Street investors feel that the single-family rental market is not slowing down. Two of the nation’s biggest SFR landlords are merging to form one landlord goliath. The all stock deal is expected to be good for stockholders, but you may be wondering what effect the merger will have on smaller landlords, tenants, and the single-family rental market as a whole.

The deal was announced as a “merger of equals” on August 10th between Invitation Homes and Starwood Waypoint, which was formerly known as Colony Starwood. Invitation brings 50,000 SFRs to the table, while Starwood brings 35,000. The combined entity will have 82,000 single-family rentals in 17 markets, and will keep the name Invitation Homes.

Who says money doesn’t grow on trees! Some environmentally conscious investors are proving that trees actually do produce money. They’re putting their real estate investment dollars into timber. But like any money-making venture, there are both risks and rewards.

Timber investing has typically been limited to large pension funds and institutional investors who have large amount of cash. But there are many more options now for individual investors who see value in timber -- especially in the wake of the financial crisis that has now produced a huge building boom.

Home prices are now hitting the bubble level in four of the ten largest metros. And it could be a warning for the rest of the nation.

Data analysis firm CoreLogic releases a monthly report on home prices. The one for June was just released, and it shows a 6.7% year-over-year increase in home prices from June of last year. They are still more than 16% below their peak, but CoreLogic says they’ve risen almost 50% since their lowest level during the downturn.

CoreLogic CEO Frank Martell says the steady rise in prices is due to the tight inventory, and that prices will continue to rise if we don’t solve the housing supply challenge. He says: “Home prices are marching ever higher, up almost 50 percent since the trough in March 2011. With no end to the escalation in sight, affordability is rapidly deteriorating nationally and especially in some key markets.”

The tiny house movement is turning into an investment opportunity for several forward-thinking entrepreneurs in Colorado. They created a tiny home destination for tourists a few years ago in a tiny town near Boulder that is now turning a profit. And, they are looking for developers and landowners to expand their business model to new locations.

Kenyon Waugh, Stephen Beck, and Jason Malito founded WeeCasa in 2015 with the help of three other investors. They began with $500,000 and 10 tiny homes in Lyons, Colorado. The property now has 22 tiny homes available for rent.

It’s a real estate bonanza for two Bay Area investors that has turned into a nightmare for one exclusive San Francisco community. The city auctioned off their “private street” for an unpaid $14-a-month tax bill and a San Jose couple snagged it for $90,000. That’s turned the gated cul-de-sac into a hornet’s nest of angry homeowners who want their street back. And it isn’t the first time this has happened.

The next time you need an appraiser, it could be a robot. Technology is improving our lives in many ways, but it is also taking some things away, like jobs. When it comes to real estate appraisals, some technology forecasters say robots could replace humans in as little as five years.

There’s a new website that calculates the risk of losing your job to a robot. It’s called “Will Robots Take My Job?” You can plug in your job title and up pops a page with an “automation risk level”. And, for real estate appraisers, the website simply says: “You are doomed”.

There is no stock bubble, according to former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan. He spoke out last week saying there’s a “bond bubble” and when it pops, it isn’t going to be pretty -- especially for long-term interest rates. But not everyone agrees with him.

The former Federal Reserve Chairman spoke with Bloomberg News, saying: “Real long-term interest rates are much too low and therefore unsustainable.” And that: “When they move higher they are likely to move reasonably fast.”

It sounds too good to be true: You buy a vacation home in your favorite spot to relax, then rent that property out whenever you’re not using it to pay the mortgage and bring in a tidy profit.

It’s actually a pretty tried-and-true process, and real estate investors have been doing it for years to pay for beach homes, condos in Vegas, and retreats in tropical paradises. However, now that Airbnb is in the mix, more people are getting in on this strategy and, not surprisingly, more people are making mistakes. Be sure to watch your back – and your wallet – if you are hoping to make a mint on vacation properties on Airbnb.

Buyer’s remorse is something we want to avoid, and and that’s especially when it comes to real estate because it’ comes at a high price. We consider, evaluate, and scrutinize all the options to make a decision, but quite often, homebuyers wish they had done things differently. Trulia just came out with a survey that could help keep you from making the same mistakes.

Trulia’s “Real Estate Regrets” survey shows that 44% of Americans have a regret about the home they currently live in or the process they went through to choose it. It covers questions about buying vs. renting, wanting a larger or smaller home, remodeling decisions, and feelings of financial security. Both buyers and renters contributed including renters who feel that “renting” was a mistake.

News Brief - Landlord Loses Property for Short Term Rentals, Apple is the New Anchor, and Dog Days are Here

In this week's Real Estate News in Brief... a landlord loses control of his properties after tenants violated city rules on short-term rentals, Apple Stores are becoming the mall’s best friend, and homeownership is going to the dogs among millennial buyers.

This year, big banks are making fewer mortgage loans than they did last year, and some of the former “major players” in the industry are moving away from mortgage loan origination rather than trying to resolve the problems they face. This represents a big opportunity for investors, but only if you understand the risks and rewards of getting into the lending side of real estate.

In mid-July, three major players in the banking industry, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, all reported their financial results for the second quarter of 2017. For all three banks, mortgages were “not a significant driver of revenue.”

Smart homes home are going mainstream. The nation’s #2 homebuilder, Lennar, is introducing new smart homes that are “Wi-Fi Certified” and ready-to-go when the buyer clicks open the front door. But while Lennar and others are cutting the cord on wires, critics say they are making a big mistake.

Lennar says it is pre-wiring homes to provide a robust wi-fi signal in every room, and that smart devices are also pre-installed, including Amazon’s Alexa as the voice controller. The certification comes from the Texas-based Wi-Fi Alliance which is a network of companies working to meet standards of quality and compatibility.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) plans to dispose of more than 400 buildings around the country in the next two years, and it’s possible that real estate investors could benefit from the national sell-off. However, complicated guidelines surrounding the process could make these “deals” less attractive to real estate investors looking to purchase properties with good upside potential.

According to VA secretary David Shulkin, the VA will basically do anything it can to eliminate about 430 buildings located around the country that are presently a drain on VA resources. He said that the VA would not rule out “any exact method” of disposing of a building.